


Can I Trust You?

by Villinye (AslansCompass)



Category: Doctor Who, Primeval
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 14:59:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1189485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AslansCompass/pseuds/Villinye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If River Song had known how much trouble Helen Cutter would cause the earth, she would have thrown that woman in front of a Dalek fleet. Oh well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can I Trust You?

 

* * *

  
River Song was taking the scenic route back to the Stormcage. She had promised to come back, but hadn't specified _directly,_ after all. Besides, she'd managed to snag an osmic projector during the mission and wanted to test it out. Not exactly a TARDIS, but it would do.

The Bathonian Age of the Middle Jurassic wasn't exactly a peaceful time, but at least the atmosphere was breathable. Birds and small mammals were beginning to appear, and the dinosaurs weren't dominant life forms yet. Not a bad time to visit, all in all.

Until a thick branch connected with the back of her skull. It didn't knock River out, but it certainly didn't improve her inclinations either. She pulled out her squareness gun and held it ready to fire. At the same time, she knew it had to be a humanoid of some kind–sabertooths weren't known for their dexterity, after all.

"What are you doing here?" Someone asked. "I haven't seen one of those flashes."

River slowly turned around, meeting the eyes of a woman in her late twenties with closely-cropped dark hair and khaki clothing. "I assume that was your branch."

The stranger tightened her grasp on an arm-length branch. "What are you doing here?"

"Testing an osmic project," River shrugged. "And you?"

"I was investigating some tracks in the Forest of Dean when I was chased by a gorgonopsid. There was a hole made of light, and suddenly I was in the middle of a sea of swirling dusts." The woman coughed. "I went back through, but it took me here instead."

River pulled out the med-scanner they had given her for her last mission. "That doesn't sound good. Mind if I take a look?"

"Not until you tell me who you are."

"River Song, archeologist."

"What, they let archeologists see the past now, not just dig it up?"

River ignored the comment and scanned the woman. "You must have breathed in some of the pre-earth atmosphere, but not enough to cause permanent damage. Still," she grabbed a syringe and jabbed the woman's arm. "Bio-stabilizer. Should help keep your immune system healthy. There's all sorts of nasty bugs here that could bring about your very painful death."

"Well, River, you sound like quite the experienced sort." The woman extended her hand. "Helen Cutter, paleontologist."

"Likewise," River mumbled. If she wanted to walk back into Stormcage instead of being dragged in, she would have to keep moving. "I'm rather busy right now, if you don't mind."

"Quite right. No offense, but it's so nice to not face human beings on a regular basis. So loud, so greedy…Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like without us."

River took a step back. When the Doctor took her to the colony of Daygoious, they had barely managed to escape before a mutant strand of vaccine wiped out 83% of the population. She had seen a world empty of people.

And it was terrifying.

The Stormcage guards were getting closer. River could feel their ships approaching like the stillness of the air before a cyclone. Without waiting to exchange pleasantries, she activated the osmic projector. The last thing she saw in the Bathonian Age was a herd of cetiosaurus approaching across the plains. Maybe that'll change her attitude about people…  
\----------

News took a long time to reach the twisted, snail-like corridors of the Stormcage. Even when it was history. But when she returned from the wreck of the Byzantium, everyone was talking about "that Cutter woman."

"She tried to destroy the human race."

"Did she survive?"

"Obviously not, or you wouldn't be here."

"It was a long time ago, anyway."

"Twenty-first century Earth."

"At least that explains the dinosaurs in London."

And River smiled as they closed the door of her cell.


End file.
